8th International training course on GIS for disaster risk management

Course overview

Rapid population growth and urbanization combined with extreme climatic events are causing a rapid increase in vulnerability of communities exposed to hazardous events. As a result, disasters are increasingly taking heavy toll of life and property. Unplanned growth both in urban and non-urban areas calls for an adequate preparation to reduce the impact of disasters. There is a great need to utilize disaster risk information in planning for effective coping mechanisms of disaster risk reduction.

Disaster risk information is spatial in nature and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) play an important role in disaster risk assessment and management. For this, there is a significant need to create awareness among the disaster management professionals regarding the importance of GIS usage.

The new curriculum of GIS4DRM course has been re-designed jointly by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of the University of Twente, the Netherlands (ITC), and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s Operational Satellite Applications Program (UNITAR-UNOSAT), with its main aim to provide an overview of the use of spatial information in Disaster Risk Management. The course not only reveals what spatial data is and how it is collected, but also emphasize on the use of such spatial data during pre- and post-disaster management such as during early warning, hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment, damage assessment, as well as in the design of risk reduction measures. The course ultimately hopes that scientific advancement can be utilized for better disaster risk reduction practices.

Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

• Describe and utilize spatial data, GIS and remote sensing in disaster risk assessment and management
• Utilize existing sources of historical disaster information and elements at risk data
• Apply GIS/remote sensing in hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment
• Employ risk information in emergency preparedness planning
• Visualize hazard and risk information
• Apply GIS/remote sensing to post-disaster damage assessment.

Course content

The course is extended over 10 workdays structured around the following modules.

Module 1: Core/Basic Information

• Basic concepts and terminologies of disaster management
• Basic concepts of GIS and remote sensing
• Introduction to spatial information
• Handling spatial information (Introduction to ArcGIS)

Module 2: Post-Disaster Impact and Damage Analysis

• The use of satellite imagery for disaster relief and recovery
• Impact analysis and preliminary damage assessment
• Building damage assessment

Module 3: Pre-Disaster Risk Assessment

Hazard Assessment
Elements at risk and vulnerability assessment
Types and methods of risk assessment, risk evaluation, cost-benefit analysis

Module 4: Risk Information for Risk Reduction Planning

• Risk evaluation
• Visualization of risk information
• Risk information and spatial planning

Module 5: Mini-Projects

Note: The curriculum shown is for guidance only. ADPC’s on-going course improvement process may lead to some changes in topics and structure.

Course faculty

The GIS4DRM will be facilitated by internationally experienced GIS practitioners and experts from ADPC, AIT, ITC, UNITAR-UNOSAT, and other partner organizations.

Training methodology

Drawing upon the rich repository of knowledge and experience in the application of GIS in disaster risk management of ADPC, AIT, ITC, UNITAR-UNOSAT, and other partner organizations, the course is primarily designed to promote the understanding of the importance of data and outputs of GIS processed application in the disaster management and disaster risk reduction works. The course has a mixture of adult learning methodologies such as interactive lectures, discussion sessions and group exercises. A mini-project will additionally allow participants to practice GIS application in their own situation of selected hazard type and disaster management phase. Participants can bring their own dataset to the practice in the course, if they have any.

Course policies

Language of instruction

All teaching and reference materials are in English. Participants must be fully conversant in English.

Training Venue and Accommodation

Training will be held at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). Applicants are highly recommended to stay at the hotel where the training is held. The room rate is approximately US$ 48-60 per single occupancy room per night including breakfast.

Payment

If you are selected to attend the course, the payment should be transferred to ADPC account through bank or International Demand Draft (DD) no later than 4th May 2012. Otherwise, your participation will be cancelled. Please note that personal checks are not accepted as a form of payment.

Cancellation

If you are unable to attend, a substitute applicant is welcome to attend in your place, provided the participation criteria described above have been met. Cancellation of attendance should be notified at least 3 weeks prior to course commencement; in which case, a full refund less 15% of course fee for banking charges and administrative costs will be made. No refunds are available for cancellation within 3 weeks prior to course commencement.